Rating:  -
Despite my own reservations of reading comic books I have always much preffered reading them in graphic novel form since they always tend to be complete stories and I was never the type of person to wait for the next issue every month.
Maximum Carnage was one of the few Spider-man stories I had in comic form although I never managed to get the complete series and now many years later I was finally able to purchase the complete story and I have to say it was a very entertaining read.
THE STORY.
The story begins when Kletus Cassidy (Carnage)regains his powers and escapes from prison with the aid of a new character Shriek and they begin to go on a murderous rampage, during their murderous spree they team up with various super powered psychos and together form a group so dangerous that neither Spider-man or Venom can take them on alone which in turn leads them to team up themselves much to spider-mans dislike. After a confrontation with one of Carnages followers Spider-man is left injured but despite that keeps on Carnages trail, aided also by Black Cat the trio (Spider-man,Venom,Black Cat) take on Carnages group on serveral occasions only to meet near disaster, Carnages campaign of terror begins to attract the attention of other heroes and anti-heroes in the area, eventually they all come together to form a loose group to combat this threat. Spider-man is forced to come to terms with the possibillity that the only way to take Carnage down is to kill him, but can he go against his own moral judgement even though his own allies agree with the murderous solution?.
THE ARTWORK.
The artwork here is great, all the characters are drawn in a superb way, Mary Jane comes off looking particularly stunning while Carnage and Venom have that classic look which I have always preffered compared to their more recent incarnations. The page layouts are good and rarely does the fighting come out looking confusing, despite being drawn by serveral different artists the overall look is similar helping you keep in touch with story and it's theme.
THE VERDICT.
Maximum Carnage is one of my favourate Spider-man stories, carrying on for 15 chapters this is definatly a tale suited to graphic novel, graphic is the key word here because this particular story is more violent than your usual Spider-man.
There are moments where the story gets cheesy but never enough to spoil it. Overall if you are a fan of Spider-man, Venom or Carnage this is a must read.
Rating:  -
published back in 1993, this was a major 'crossover' event in the various Spider-Man affiliated titles that were being published by Marvel comics in the early 1990's. The concept followed a murderous plot to terrorize the city of New York by the psychotic serial killer Kletus Kasady, aka Carnage-- a man whose body has been possessed by an alien parasite, giving him spider-man's powers combined with weapon-morphing abilities like Terminator 2's T-1000, creating blades & spikes with his hands.. Carnage forms alliances with an assortment of gruesome Spider-Man foes, including the DemoGoblin, the Doppelganger, Carrion, and others..
Spider-Man, meanwhile, reacting to the crisis, forms a loose-knit team of allies including Firestar, Captain America, Cloak & Dagger, Iron Fist, Deathlok & Nightwatch, to combat the riotous mayhem that is unleashed.. However, the last, and most reluctant ally of Spider-Man is his sworn foe, Venom-- who also possesses similar abilities given by an alien "symbiote" parasite.. Failed reporter Eddie Brock (who was embarrassed and fired after Spider-Man caught a wanted killer, "the Sin eater" and exposed a fraud posing as said killer who had given Brock an exclusive interview) was contemplating suicide in a church when the alien 'costume' (which was rejected by Spider-Man when he found out of its parasitic nature) sensed his hatred for spider-man and bonded with him, thus creating Venom-- Despite Venom's irrational hatred for Spider-Man and repeated attempts to kill him-- not to mention the maiming/and or murders of several innocents and law enforcement-- Venom fancies himself a "lethal protector" of the innocent, and grudgingly joins forces with Spider-man's band.. Spider-Man knows that Venom's symbiote spawned the one that bonded with Kasady, and thus he has an edge in both finding him and defeating him in battle..
In my assessment, the serial nature of this story was perhaps a good idea in theory, but the execution, which crossed over into several monthly and quarterly titles with different writers and artists-- makes the visual transitions somewhat awkward to adjust to, and the resolution is ultimately somewhat lackluster..
The early 90's were a hotbed of ultra-vigilantes in both independent and mainstream comic books, as well as the trend of multiple-chaptered crossover stories between different publications-- including multiple covers, and covers enhanced with colored foil and other experiments that quickly became tedious..
By this time, traditional do-gooders with clear-cut moral centers like Spider-Man and Captain America had become quaint to certain fans, especially younger ones, who helped to make the X-Men's Wolverine a top-tier favorite, whose frequently lethal tactics gave him a rebel/punk edge over hsi more stern predecessors.. And in the case of Spider-Man, Venom became a dark mirror-image of the wall-crawler-- his popularity as a villain had become so intense that apparently corporate and/or editorial powers-that-be decided to make him the protagonist of his own book, which first began publishing in 1992.. To bulwark the obvious objections that many would have in promoting this clearly mentally unstable character as a 'good guy', the character of Kasady/Carnage was created, as an unrepentant serial murderer, to give both Venom and Spider-Man a common foe-- but Spider-Man still had to watch his back whenever Venom felt like having a little payback.. At one pint, Venom's popularity genuinely rivaled Spider-Mans, and his sympathetic portrayal and promotion, despite his obvious dementia and documented killings of non-criminals, was, in my opinion, unforgivable.. I wasn't even 20 at the time and I was already feeling a generation gap between myself and kids that were clearly enamored with Venom, and the even more psychotic Carnage.. In fact, in the vast majority of their conflicts, Spider-Man never seemed to enjoy a clear-cut physical victory over Venom-- he always seemed to 'beat' him via some odd trick or the 11th hour intervention of someone else-- sometimes just as Venom was about to deliver the death blow.. it was sickening..
by the late 90's, it seemed as if both characters had run their course, and they were slowly phased out of the books.. only to return circa 2003/4..
In my opinion,
collecting this story was perhaps necessary, especially since there are current venom and carnage stories in recent print by Marvel, and the company is combing its publishing archives more aggressively nowadays..
I just think there are plenty of better volumes of Spider-Man out there, and the legacy of Venom and Carnage have left a bad taste in the mouth of this longtime comics fan..
Rating:  -
Real good story,excellent plot, awesome characters and kind of left a good message.One of the best mini series turned book in Marvels history.
Rating: -
I think that anyone who would give this crossover a bad reveiw was not paying attention. It was entertaing and the art was exceptional. I think that if you're a Spider-man Fan you will love this title.
Rating: -
This book mainly focuses on the impact of having Venom, a raving man, near lunacy, looking for the only true source of justice in his eyes. Vengeance. Then there's Spider-man, although every person in the world is going to bad-mouth me for this, SPIDER-MAN DOESN'T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A HERO!!!! He just doesn't, he is always going "do I have to?" Can't someone else do this?" "Why is it always me that has to face every psycho that comes along?" All i can say is, "Hey spidey! You made the right decision becoming a hero, now live up to it! That's Why I rallied behind Venom all the way through this book, he knew he was going into something that was going to test his every ability, yes, including bloodthristiness.
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